Miscellaneous unorganized material/WEHT
History As the Tri-State area's first television station, it went on-the-air on UHF channel 50 on September 27, 1953 as a CBS affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. It was owned by the Malco Theater Corporation of Memphis, Tennessee (minority interest was held by several Henderson businessmen for the first year). Hilberg Packing of Cincinnati bought the station in 1957 and Gilmore bought it in 1964. WEHT dropped ABC in 1956 after WTVW signed-on. With Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval, the station switched to UHF channel 25 in 1964 soon after Gilmore bought the station. When WTVW moved to Fox in late-1995, WEHT took over the market's ABC affiliation. On August 25, 2008, it became the area's RTV affiliate on DT2. The current "RTV 25" branding debuted on June 12, 2009 as part of Retro Television Network's re-branding from RTN to RTV. The channel was previously known as "RTN TV 25". Notable on-air staff ;Brad Byrd :WEHT's lead news anchor has been with the station since 1978, when he became one of the youngest TV news anchors in Indiana at the age of 26. During his tenure at News 25, Byrd has won several awards for his work, including two regional Emmy awards and two Edward R. Murrow awards. Byrd was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Silver Circle Hall of Fame. In addition to his on-air duties at News 25, he has written a column entitled "Second Thoughts" in the Evansville Courier & Press newspaper. ;Shelley Kirk :Kirk joined NEWS 25 in 1989 and reported for several years before being promoted to anchor in 1994. She currently co-anchors the weekday 4:30, 5, and 6 pm newscasts. Highlights of her years at NEWS 25 include reporting from the White House Oval Office, covering a local case before the U.S. Supreme Court, and following the Habitat for Humanity housing blitzes of 1992 and 1995. Shelley also serves as co-host of the annual Easter Seals and Santa Clothes Club telethons. She stays active in several local causes, including Habitat of Evansville, Easter Seals, and the American Cancer Society. ;Wayne Hart :Hart has been the station's Chief Meteorologist since 1993 (succeeding Mike Maguire). In 2005 he became the first television meteorologist in the Evansville market to become a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM), a designation given by the American Meteorological Society. Prior to becoming a CBM, Hart had held the AMS' Seal of Approval since 1987. Like Brad Byrd, Hart has won a regional Emmy Award. Hart received his Emmy in 1998 for "First Warning to Severe Weather," a prime-time special on the subject of severe weather preparedness. ;Lance Wilkerson :Wilkerson is the only television sportscaster that can call the Tri-State his home. He was born and raised in Newburgh and attended Castle High School. He then moved on to Ball State University, where he graduated with a major in telecommunications. After working at the station as an intern out of college, he became a news photographer in August 1993. A year later he became the weekend sports anchor. In July 1998, Lance was named Sports Director of NEWS 25. Lance has won numerous awards, including the Distinguished Service Award from the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administration Association and the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches' Association Outstanding Media Award. NEWS 25's Home Team Friday sports show won the honor of Best Sports Segment from the Associated Press. News operation At one point in the early 2000s, WEHT produced a 9 p.m. newscast for then-WB (now CW) affiliate WAZE-TV. The program was canceled due to low ratings. In 2007, this station discontinued its midday (11:30 a.m.) show in favor of paid programming leaving the station without a competitor against WFIE's hour-long Midday with Mike and WTVW's Fox 7 News at Noon. However, there continues to be a midday broadcast on Fridays. WEHT began airing a newscast weekdays at 4:30 on September 10, 2007. Until August 25, 2008, its news programs were simulcast in their normal time-slots on WEHT-DT2 along with a repeat of the 6 o'clock news at 7. However when RTV programming debuted, the newscasts and weather radar were eliminated. Beginning June 10, 2009, WEHT introduced another 9 o'clock newscast on its second digital subchannel. This goes head-to-head against WTVW's Fox 7 News at 9 which is currently the market's only other prime time show. In April 2009, weekday morning anchor started hosting radio updates for Regent Communications-owned stations WKDQ, WGBF (AM and FM), WJLT, WDKS, and WBKR. There are also weather updates for these stations. 1 It operates its own weather radar across the street from its studios that is called "Live First Warning Doppler". Newscast titles *''NewsCenter 25'' (mid-late 1970s) *''25 Alive News'' (early-mid 1980s) *''NewsFirst 25'' (mid 1980s-1994) *''NEWS 25'' (1994-present) Station slogans *"First at Home" (1990-1994) *"This is CBS, on 25" (1992-1995, local version of CBS ad campaign) *"Where News Comes First" (1994-2001) *"Always Tracking. Always Watching. Always Alerting." (2001-present) *"News 25 Gets Answers" (2009-present, secondary) News team Anchors *Whitney Ray - weekday mornings and The Friday Show host *Shelley Kirk - weeknights at 4:30, 5, and 6 *Scott Adkins - weeknights at 5 and Sundays **weeknight reporter *Brad Byrd - weeknights at 6, 9, and 10 *Courtney Gousman - Saturdays and reporter News 25 First Warning Doppler Meteorologists *Wayne Hart (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) - Chief seen weeknights *Scott Dimmich (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) - weekday mornings *David Heckard (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) - weekends and The Friday Show host Sports *Lance Wilkerson - Director seen weeknights at 6, 9, and 10 **''Home Team Friday'' host *Randall Parmley - weekends Reporters *Corey Allan - Owensboro Newsroom photographer *Nikki Stroud - weekday mornings *Jamie Rose Notable former staff *Bill Riales - former WKRG anchor/investigative reporter *Jacqui Jeras - CNN meteorologist *Allison Hatcher - spokesperson for Allstate Insurance *Bruce Kopp - weekday morning anchor at WTHR *Mike Maguire - Chief Meteorologist from the 1980s until 1993 *Peggy Mitchell - The Peggy Mitchell Show host from 1961 to 1986; died on April 28, 2009 after suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. *Jonathan Weaver - Vanderburgh County, Indiana Assessor *Bill Weber - NBC Sports *Nischelle Turner - Fox Sports NFL sideline reporter *Paul Emmick - The Weather Channel, WRTV, WDRB *Michelle Boss - fill-in meteorologist for KREM-TV References #'^' External links *WEHT "News 25" *ABC *Query the FCC's TV station database for WEHT